Never Trust the Living (Battle Crows MC Book 7) Read online

  Wake ignored her as he kept walking. “Your husband here yet?”

  “He’s sitting there on his bike watching and listening to every word,” she said. “See?”

  Wake looked up to find me doing exactly that and grinned.

  “I see,” Wake said as he kept walking toward us.

  Tex, the overly large Golden Retriever, sighted in on his next target. Me. Meaning he started to pull harder because he might actually get to get some pets as he was used to me doing with him.

  “Hey there, Tex,” I called to him.

  Wake let the leash go, and the fat Golden waddled toward me excitedly.

  “Bit hot out here for a dog of his size to be walking, isn’t it? Plus, you came the long way,” I asked.

  It wasn’t too long or too hot for Wake, who was in immaculate shape. But it was a bit much for poor Tex who was out of breath and panting.

  “Tex needs to lose some weight,” Wake admitted as he walked into the yard and immediately offered me his hand. When I took it and released it, he went on. “My sister doted on him. But it isn’t healthy for him. So I’m trying to make it to where he gets some walks in multiple times a day. Though, just sayin’, but it’s not like I don’t have the fuckin’ time to walk multiple times a day.”

  I raised a brow at him. “I thought you were going to start a construction business?”

  He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I did. And am. But nobody wants an ex-con in their house, apparently. Or building them one. So now I’m just twiddling my thumbs.” He paused. “It’s not like I don’t have the cash to live off of, though. So I’ll wait.”

  Apparently, before Wake had done time in prison, he’d been in real estate starting at the age of twenty-one. From there, he’d started building houses.

  In fact, he’d actually built the one that Dory and I were living in at that moment in time.

  “You could just build them and then sell it through your corporation. It’s not like the business went to jail. Only you,” I pointed out.

  Wake nodded. “That’s also on the list of things I may contemplate. Right now, I’m just trying to enjoy having some free time, and someone not watching me piss.”

  I snorted as I glanced back at Dory, who was finally creeping toward the driveway.

  I gestured for Wake to move over, and Dory pulled in with a wave.

  After she rolled the windows up and got out with our dinner, I gestured for her to go inside. “You mind taking that in and giving me a few minutes with Wake?”

  Dory eyed me suspiciously, then looked at Wake. “I have plenty of food if you’re interested in staying. I didn’t know what I wanted, so I literally ordered half of the menu.”

  His lips quirked up. “I’ll think about it.”

  With a wave, she walked inside, and I waited for the door to close before saying, “If you find this motherfucker, I want to deal with him.”

  Wake had resources here that I didn’t.

  And I wanted to make sure that I had a little chat with the piss ant before he was taken into police custody, because lord knew what the dumbass sheriff would do with him once he had him.

  My guess? Let him go. Because paperwork would cause him to actually have to get off his ass for a change.

  “What makes you think I can find him?” he asked.

  I picked up a stick off the ground and shook it at Tex, who started to bounce excitedly.

  I threw it and watched him waddle toward it before saying, “Wake, I’m not a dumb man. I know that you have connections that I’ll never have. At least in this city, anyway. And I know that the sheriff that calls himself the law around here is scared of you and what you can do. You’re rich as fuck. You have two very prominent members of this little town as family, and you got me a security system put in today in a matter of hours. So yeah, I know you can find him.”

  Wake shrugged. “Small town means lots of people in everyone’s business. I’ll do my best to get him to you, but there’s no telling if I’ll actually find him before the sheriff. Though, the sheriff doesn’t seem to actually be looking and I am.”

  I snorted. “I’m not updating the sheriff on any new information. I’m tired of depending on the law to fix things when we both know that they won’t.”

  Wake eyed me sharply and looked me in the eye for quite a while before saying, “I had a buddy look into you.”

  My brows rose in question. “Yeah?”

  “You’re married to the woman whose own brother tortured you,” he said. “Seems kind of backward if you ask me.”

  I shrugged. “It might very well be. But I love the hell out of her all the same.”

  Even if at first, that wasn’t the case.

  “I see that,” he murmured. “And I’d take you up on dinner but Tex just jumped into the water. It’ll take him hours to dry off.”

  I looked over my shoulder and sure enough, Tex was swimming around in the bay as happy as could be.

  “Dogs and sand sound like a horrible combination,” I admitted.

  “You have no idea.”

  CHAPTER 21

  I’m going to hell on a full ride.

  -Dory to Bram

  DORY

  “This is quite irregular.” Dutch shook her head. “But he’s more comfortable with women that don’t have red hair. Apparently, his mother was a ginger, and there’s a lot of past trauma. And I know that you usually do children, but I was asked to evaluate him by a friend. Do you mind?”

  “A friend being the district attorney I heard you were making a dinner date with?” I teased.

  Dutch rolled her eyes. “Yes. And he’s only a friend. I swear to God.”

  I smirked. “I’m sure. How about you tell him to come in here. I have no problem helping in any way I can. I may specialize in children, but I still have the degree that says I can handle adults.”

  Dutch snorted. “Children and adults are completely different breeds. I’ll send him in. Thank you so much for this.”

  With that, she started out of the room, coming back moments later with a man that was just a slight bit older than myself.

  I didn’t stand up, mostly because I’d taken my shoes off and still hadn’t managed to get them back on yet.

  The man, who was around five feet eight, and had sandy-colored brown hair, stared at me with barely concealed hostility.

  He must really have trouble with women if he couldn’t even look at me without his hate showing in his eyes.

  Dutch had given me a rundown when she was telling me about him during our earlier conversation.

  He was a troubled youth who’d turned into a troubled adult. And the DA wanted to know whether he should bother prosecuting him at all, or if he should be evaluated for a stay in a mental facility.

  I finally got my heels on my feet, which were becoming more and more uncomfortable the more pregnant I became and stood.

  “Mr. Rogers.” I smiled as I gestured toward the seat on the other side of my desk. “Please, have a seat.”

  Terry Rogers had been a repeat offender for multiple things. But his multiple offenses were brand new to the state of Florida. Funny enough, he’d resided in Texas where most of his escapades had taken place before deciding to grace Florida with his presence.

  Terry Rogers sat, but the anger and hate didn’t leave his face as Dutch closed the door and left us alone.

  “I hear that you were mandated by the court for this evaluation,” I said softly.

  “I’m here because I was forced to be here. Apparently, I’m a ‘danger to society,’” Terry snapped.

  Okay, so talking to him softly probably wasn’t going to work.

  It only seemed as if I was making him angrier.

  “Can you tell me what happened to make you so angry today?” I asked. “Or are you upset with Dutch and me for having to perform this assessment?”

  On and on we talked, and the more I learned about the man, the angrier he became at the knowledge that I now held about him.

  By the end of the session, I was honestly scared he might hurt me.

  Luckily, the delivery man arrived with our lunch, and Dutch knocked softly on my office door.

  “Lunch, Mrs. Crow,” Dutch said. “Are you about finished?”

  Yes, yes I was.

  “Yes,” I answered quickly. “I am. Terry, thank you for your visit.”

  There, that was neutral, and not freaked out sounding, right?

  Terry got up and stormed out of the room, narrowly missing clocking Dutch with his shoulder as he rushed past her.

  “So it is my professional opinion that that man has more issues than all of our patients combined,” I said honestly. “It would probably be best for the DA to check the man out. He’s hiding a lot of things, and his anger issues with women mean he probably shouldn’t have a woman therapist unless she’s got a bodyguard of some sort.”

  Dutch winced. “You’re saying he made you nervous? The DA didn’t think he was dangerous, or I would’ve never asked you to work with him. I’m so sorry.”

  I waved it away. “I knew what I was getting into when I went into this profession. Usually, it’s a little kid throwing the punches, though. Not an adult.”

  Dutch sighed and gestured for me to follow her, which I did.

  We came out of my office in time to see the delivery driver there leaning against the wall by our door.

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I forget to get something?” Dutch asked the driver.

  The man had ‘Uber Eats’ on his shirt, and he had an empty bag that was likely what he’d carried our food inside in his hand.

  “No.” He looked around. “What do y’all do here?”

  There was something so familiar about the man that it made the tiny little hairs on my arms stand on end. r />
  “We’re therapists,” Dutch answered. “I appreciate you bringing our food, but we’re going to lock up now.”

  Dutch’s nice way to say, ‘get the fuck out.’

  The man smirked. “No problem. I was just waiting for my ride to get back. Have a good one.”

  We both watched him leave, and then locked the door behind him once he was far enough away not to hear the click of the lock.

  When Dutch turned to me after engaging the lock in place, she said, “That was really weird.”

  “Agreed.” I felt a weird pitching in my stomach that had nothing to do with being pregnant, and everything to do with the discomfort the man had caused by his presence.

  “He was walking out of the door as I left. I had no clue he was going to stay.” She shivered.

  Jokingly, I walked to the desk with the food on it and said, “He momentarily distracted me from my patient leaving, though. So there’s that.” I paused. “You should change the man’s tip.”

  She laughed and picked up her phone. “I’ll knock a dollar off for his creepiness.”

  “It really is unfair that you can change the price after they deliver,” I murmured. “But I guess that’s the way it is, because of the fact that they may fuck it up somehow. Or forget to deliver…”

  “Or not deliver at all,” Dutch said with wide eyes. “My order was canceled.”

  I blinked. “What?”

  “My order,” she turned her phone screen to me. “It was canceled.”

  There was a somersault party going on in my belly, and I absently put my palm against my lower abdomen and felt the reassuring movement before saying, “Are you sure that’s not for an old order?”

  “It says that our order was stolen,” she said, eyeing the food. “I don’t think we should eat this.”

  I thought I should call my husband.

  Which I did in the next minute.

  “Hey, baby,” Bram said the moment the call connected. “You at lunch?”

  I usually called him while I was eating, because he liked to hear from me once during the day to make sure I was okay. Today was no different. At least, for him at that moment in time.

  “Uh.” I hesitated. “Sort of?”

  There was an instant change in the tone of his voice as he said, “What happened?”

  I gave him a quick rundown of the situation, starting with my morning, and ending with the lunch delivery.

  “We’ll address you being in the room with a dangerous criminal later,” he murmured quietly. “But for now, tell me everything you can about this delivery guy. Does Dutch have cameras? I’m going to call Wake and…”

  “Let me ask, Bram. Slow down. I’m okay right now. The guy is gone. The food is getting discarded into the trash as we speak,” I spoke over him. “Let me ask Dutch about the cameras.”

  “We have them,” she said. “The only problem is they’re monitored off site. They go to a facility in Wisconsin where they’re monitored twenty-four seven. Let me call them.”

  “Dutch has cameras. But she says they’re…” I trailed off when he said, “I heard. Are you really okay?”

  I smiled, despite the shittiness of the situation. “I’m okay. I swear. In fact, I’m pretty sure your son is having a party in my abdomen right now. Other than being extremely hungry and unable to get lunch, which I’ll probably have to pay for later in the form of puking my guts up for hours, I’m okay. I swear.”

  He cursed under his breath.

  Another thing we’d found was if I stayed ‘full’ or mostly never allowed myself to get completely starving, then I would be okay. But if I allowed myself to slip past a certain point, my stomach protested everything. And loudly, for hours if I wasn’t careful.

  So we’d been very careful to always have food on hand for me in case of emergency. The only problem was, I’d run out of office snacks yesterday, and hadn’t had a chance to replenish them yet.

  “I’ll get Wake to bring you food,” he said. “I can’t leave. I’m literally in the water taking this call right now.”

  I smiled. “Go back to work. Don’t worry about me. I’ll call Wake.”

  I wouldn’t be calling Wake. Wake didn’t need to be called.

  “Good,” he said. “I’m sorry, baby. I wish I knew how to find this prick.”

  I wish he knew how, too.

  CHAPTER 22

  It’s important to get out of the house every once in a while to remind yourself why you don’t go out.

  -Bram to Dory

  BRAM

  “I’m sorry, what?” I pinched the bridge of my nose.

  “She never called.” He laughed. “But I’ll go over there now if you want.”

  I sighed. “I’m literally on the back of my bike now. I’m about to head that way. No need to get out now.”

  “I’ll meet you at your place. Tex needs a walk anyway.”

  I drove straight to Dory’s office and parked right beside her front door.

  My eyes scanned the area, taking in every single thing, and noting that the only people out were the regular runners that liked to use this business park as a cut through to the main trail down the road.

  Once I was sure nothing was amiss, I got off the bike and headed inside to find Dutch stuffing her face with a cupcake.

  I frowned at the familiar muffin cupcake liner.

  Then turned to find the familiar box that denoted my uncle’s bakery on the corner of the receptionist’s desk.

  “Where is she?” I asked, figuring I’d get the information out of her.

  She pointed, never stopping stuffing her face as she did.

  I grinned and turned to find Dory’s office door partially closed, and a male’s voice booming with laughter.

  I stalked into the room to find Dory sitting at her desk with her own half-eaten cupcake up to her mouth, and none other than my brother, Shine, and his girl, Iris, sitting in the patient chairs.

  I narrowed my eyes. “I thought I told you not to come?”

  Shine opened his mouth to explain when my wife stood up and said, “You did. I contradicted you by calling him back and telling him to come.”

  I blinked, shocked.

  “What?”

  She’d called Shine?

  “I called him,” she repeated herself. “Hey, did you happen to stop and get any chocolate milk?”

  I snorted. “If I’d known you wanted it, I would have. But I’m not a mind reader, babe.”

  She sighed, sounding totally put out at the thought that I couldn’t read her mind.

  “That’s sad,” she mumbled darkly. “What do you want to do for dinner?”

  I looked at her with a smile on my face as I said, “What, exactly, would you like to have? Do you even have any room left after that cupcake?”

  “That’s her third, by the way.” Iris giggled. “I’m glad we stopped by and got some. It’s quite comical to see how much she’s putting away. You’d think that she wouldn’t eat so much because she’s so small.”

  “You’d think wrong.” I shook my head. “I’ve seen Dory put some food away in our time together but watching her eat this… it’s amazing.”

  And it was great to see her actually eating.

  Once upon a time, she wouldn’t have eaten that cupcake that he’d brought her. She would’ve overthought the hell out of it.

  Though my brother would never, ever in a million years hurt her, the fact that she was eating anything he brought was a sign of trust.

  That, and the pregnancy had changed a lot of her eating habits for the better.

  Now, she didn’t have a problem with eating anything sweet or a craving when we went out to eat. I was sure that it wouldn’t continue this way when she wasn’t pregnant anymore, but one could hope.

  If anything else, I would have to keep feeding her and bringing her food.

  She trusted me.

  If that’s what it took to get the girl to eat, then I’d do whatever it took to make it happen. Even tell my boss my girl needed lunch and I had to bring it to her.

  I’m sure he’d love that.

  “Give me a sec to call Wake. He was on the way to our house with Tex,” I said to Dory.

  I heard Shine say ‘Tex?’ and then Dory explain quietly who Tex was as Wake answered the phone.

  “Change of plans,” I said to Wake. “Can you come out to dinner with us? My brother ended up coming into town.”